ARLINGTON, TEXAS – The stars at night are big and bright … and
it sure helps to go deep in the heart of Texas.

The Angels hit five solo home runs to back Ervin Santana’s seven
strong innings on short rest Saturday night as the Angels answered
the Texas Rangers’ series-opening salvo with an 8-4 victory.

Manager Mike Scioscia rolled the dice on starting both Santana
and Jered Weaver on three days’ rest in this crucial series. It has
worked out perfectly so far, and the Angels now will have their ace
on the mound tonight in the deciding game of the series with a
chance to leave Texas just one game out of first place.

“Couldn’t ask for anything better,” said outfielder Vernon
Wells, who had a run-scoring triple as well as the first homer.
“Hopefully, he pitches as well as he did against these guys the
last time (a 2-1 victory in Anaheim).”

The Angels can’t ask much more from Weaver than they got from
Santana. He retired the first nine Rangers before running into some
trouble in the middle innings, including a two-run home run by
David Murphy.

He was also hurt by some poor defense in the fourth. With
runners at second and third and one out, Mike Trout handled a fly
ball in shallow right field but hesitated, unsure of where to
throw. One runner tagged and scored, the other beat his throw to
third, then scored on Mike Napoli’s single.

“There’s some youth on that field,” Scioscia said. “Mike thought
he didn’t have a play at home.”

That same youth did a lot of the damage at the plate. Trout and
Bobby Wilson hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth, Peter
Bourjos went deep in the fifth and Howie Kendrick in the seventh.
That was one shy of the team record for solo homers in a game, set
in 1985.

The first four of Saturday’s homers came off Rangers left-hander
C.J. Wilson, who had not allowed a homer in August and had the
third-lowest home run rate in the league this season. He had
allowed only four in his previous 17 starts.

While Scioscia insists his team is not built around or dependent
upon the home run, they have hit at least one in 17 of their past
18 games and are 50-27 when they hit a home run.

It might not be the Angels’ weapon of choice. But it is a handy
one to have — there have been a major league-high 188 home runs
hit at Arlington this season.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of trying to hit home runs here,”
Wells said. “But in your psyche, you know it’s a good hitters’ park
and if you hit the ball well, it’s going to go.”

That’s exactly why Santana’s performance was impressive. After
the home runs by Trout and Wilson in the fourth gave the Angels a
4-0 lead, Santana never let the Rangers get closer than two
runs.

“It’s not a very forgiving lineup,” Scioscia said. “If you make
a mistake, they’re going to make you pay.”

Santana finished his first career start on short rest having
allowed four runs on four hits, a walk, two hit batters and two
wild pitches in seven innings — and in 104-degree heat at game
time.

“It was hot. Really hot,” he said.

The heat turned up in the ninth on rookie closer Jordan Walden,
whose jersey was drenched in perspiration as he loaded the bases
with one out.

With the left-handed Murphy, who had homers in each game of the
series, coming up, Scioscia called upon lefty Hisanori Takahashi.
He got Murphy to bounce into a game-ending double play.

“He’s going to be closing tomorrow,” Scioscia said of Walden.
“That was a matchup move. Murphy’s a guy who can tie the game up
with one swing.”

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.

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